Views from my balcony (3): A foggy morning

The foghorns are blowing this morning in the Sound. Visibility for ships must be very bad. I can barely see the houses at the edge of the lawn:

On this picture the fog gave me a nice "bokeh":

PS

During this "dark season" here in the north of Europe, it is sometimes nice to watch views from more southern locations, like this one:

Harriet Quimby - the first woman to pilot an aircraft across the English Cannel

A photo of Harriet Quimby, published  in the Swedish news magazine Hvar 8 Dag in 1912.

"There is no reason why the aeroplane should not open up a fruitful occupation for women. I see no reason they cannot realize handsome incomes by carrying passengers between adjacent towns, from parcel delivery, taking photographs or conducting schools of flying. Any of these things it is now possible to do."
Harriet Quimby

This stylish aviator, American Harriet Quimby, was the first woman to pilot an aircraft across the English Channel. Her flight did not receive much media attenion at the time. as the sinking of the Titanic, which took place on April 12, 1912 - the day before the flight - filled the newspapers. 

Sadly, Quimby lost her life less than three months later in a flight accident.

This year, on the centenary of the Channel flight, Quimby was inducted into the Long Island Air and Space Hall of Fame. 

More information on Harriet Quimby here.

The centenary of the Stockholm Olympics 1912

With the spectacular London Olympics fresh in our memory, I thought it might be of interest to take a look what happened at the Summer Olympic games in Stockholm, a hundred years ago.

Wikipedia gives us the basic facts:

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held inStockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports. With the exception of tennis (starting on 5 May) and football and shooting (both starting on 29 June), the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It was the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, withJapan's debut, the first time an Asian nation participated. Stockholm was the only bid for the games, and was selected in 1909.

The opening ceremony on 6 July was of course a huge event in Sweden at the time:

A local newspaper reporter described the highlight of the opening ceremony enthusiastically: "Then at last came the maybe most beautiful part of the ceremony - the march of the nations past the Royal stand and around the Stadium. All troups were warmly welcomed  - of course with the Swedes receiving the warmest, and the Finns the next warmest welcome. All over the Stadium people were constantly cheering and waving - to the jaunty Danes, the confident Americans, the numerous Englishmen, the two Japanese, the Chileans, the Australians, the South Africans, and other strangers from far away countries."

The "confident Americans" at the opening ceremony. 

The "jaunty Danes".

In 1912 Finland was still an autonomous Grand Duchy of Imperial Russia, but was allowed to send a team  to the Stockholm olympics.

A Swedish sport writer wrote about the this French "outdoor" tennis player: Mlle Broquedis won the sympathies of the audience because her playing was both skillful and gracious."

The Swedish team - 8 strong policemen - won the gold medal in the rope pulling contest. What a pity that tug of war - or rope pulling - is no more part of the Olympics! Maybe it could be re-introduced?

Neither is long jump from a standing position anymore an Olympic discipline. This picture shows the start  position of the Stockholm gold medal winner, Mr. Tsiclitiras from Greece.

The winner of the high jump competition,  Mr. Richards from the U.S.A. 

The Swedish pole jumper B. Uggla  won a  bronze  medal with this jump (3,8 m). 

The American R.W. Rose won the gold medal in  shot put with  to arms.

The British gold medal team in 400 swimming for ladies. 

The winner of the 100 m free style swim competition, American Duke Kahanamoku was looking cool already 100  yars ago.

The Finn Kolehmainen, who won both the 5000 and 10000 m competitions, became a great hero in his homeland.

These two well dressed gentlemen - King Gustav of Sweden  and  the  Crown  Prince - are on their way to the  prize ceremony. 

This proud Finnish football (soccer) team beat Italy - after 2 x 15 min. extra time - with 3-2. That was probably the first and only time Finland has beaten Italy in football!

Norway's Magda, the winner of the 12 m class in sailing.

The Royal Swedish Navy on the eve of World War I

The Swedish Royal Navy's armoured cruiser Fylgia visiting Antwerpen in 1912.

On the eve of World War I, the Royal Swedish Navy appears to have been in a fairly good shape, with a number of modern - or modernized - ships of different types. As Sweden was able to maintain its neutral status, the navy ships were not directly involved in the war. However, the Royal Navy played an important role in protecting Swedish territorial waters during the war.

In March 1912 the Swedish magazine Hvar 8 Dag (Every 8th Day) published an overview of the Royal Navy, written by Captain Erik Hägg. In his article Hägg listed the number and type of ships at the time:

• 12 First class battleships
• 1 Armoured cruiser
• 5 Torpedo cruisers
• 8 Destroyers (one of them was being built)
• 31 First class torpedo boats
• 22 Second class torpedo boats
• 2 mineships (one of the two was under construction)
• A number of submarines

(It is interesting to note that Hägg does not give the exact number of submarines!)

In addition the Royal Swedish Navy had a number of older ships, built during the 1860s and the 1870s, which were used solely for local defense purposes. 

Here are some of the pictures Hägg used in his article as examples for the different types of navy ships:

First class battleship Oscar II (in service since 1907). It had a max. speed of 18 knots The number of crew was 340..

The armoured cruiser Fylgia was about the same size as the Oscar II, but because of lighter armour it  was faster, with max. speed of 23 knots.

The torpedo cruiser Class Uggla and the other four torpedo cruisers were built during the years 1897 -  1900. 

First class torpedo boat Castor. 

The Hvalen was the only submarine not built in Sweden. It was designed and built by Fiat San Giorgio in Spezia. The submarine, which had a crew of 17, reached a speed of 8 knots while under water.  

Second class submarine. 

A model of the destroyer Vale.

Torpedo excercise 

Chemical tanker MCT Almak in Øresund

This morning the Liberia registered chemical tanker MCT Almak (149 x 24m) was on its way from Stenungsund to Baltysk:

PS

I added this picture of the Russian cargo ship Ivan Ryabov (130 x 17m), which early this afternoon passed by in the Sound on its way from Arkhangelsk to Kaliningrad:

Views from my balcony (2): The coastline of Zealand

From where I live the distance to the Danish side of Øresund is only about 4,5 km. The picture below shows a part of the Zealand (Sjælland in Danish) coastline today at about 9 AM.

The large building in the middle is the hotel and conference center Marienlyst.

The Moscow Kremlin in the 1880s

The exterior of the Moscow Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has not changed very much since the 1880s:

The Moscow Kremlin in the 1880s

A contemporary view of the Kremlin (Wikipedia)